For months, years, even decades they are on our screens every Saturday and Monday, screaming into the mic, spilling their own and other people’s blood, then suddenly they’re gone. Yes, some make a (usually) welcome return to the ring, but in many cases that is the last we see of those we love, and those we love to hate. The continuous beatings, not to mention the fame, adoration and money that goes with it have meant not everyone has survived to tell the story. Thankfully many have. It’s time to take a look back at some of the stars of the ring we miss, remind ourselves why they were special, and see what they are up to now.
Jesse Ventura
“The Body” served in the US Navy Underwater Demolition Team before turning his attention to the ring and becoming a pro wrestler in 1975. Adopting the role as a Californian bleach blond villain and going by his tag line of “Win if you can, lose if you must, but always cheat!”, Ventura found considerable success as both a single and tag team fighter. With partner Adrian Adonis, he won the AWA’s World Tag Team Championship on July 20, 1980 and managed to hold onto it for the best part of a year. The Body was forced to retire in 1984 due to blood clots in his lungs, a condition he puts down his time in Vietnam as opposed to injuries suffered in the ring. Since then, Ventura has turned his hand to wrestling commentary, politics and acting. He became governor of Minnesota serving from 1991 to ’95. He was one of the first politicians to use the internet as a tool to reach out to his supporters and potential supporters.
CREDIT IMAGE SOURCE: espnfivethirtyeight.wordpress.com
He has seen success on the silver screen, most notably in “Predator” and “Running Man” with his close friend Arnold Schwarzenegger. Most recently, he has combined his love of politics and television in TruTV’s show “Conspiracy Theory with Jesse Ventura”.
JBL
Another 100% success story inside and outside the ring is John Bradshaw Layfield. He went under several names and characters as a pro wrestler, but it was as the rich, mouthy businessman JBL that he found his biggest success, winning 24 championships. After defeating Eddie Guerrero for the WWE Championship in 2004 he managed to hold onto the belt – often controversially – for a staggering 280 days, the longest for a decade, despite coming up against such adversaries as Big Show, The Undertaker and Booker T. His reign was finally ended by John Cena in 2005, but his reputation and fortune was made.
CREDIT IMAGE SOURCE: www.holytaco.com
When he retired in 2009, he moved his a net worth of many millions of dollars to Bermuda, before returning as an occasional color commentator for the WWE. What may surprise some people however – or not for those who knew him – are his career choices away from wrestling. He is a very keen and talented poker player. He seems to have made good use of his ability to read people from the ring to the green baize, where he bets, checks and raises his way to winning. It also shows that he has the mental skills poker requires as a game of incomplete information and careful calculation. JBL’s mathematical aptitude is backed up by his spot as financial analyst for Fox News – but it goes way beyond math expertise. Solid control over your emotions is essential, not only to put up a poker face but also to avoid tilt, in poker and in the ring – when on tilt, players (and wrestlers) adopt a defeatist attitude and become easy targets. You may remember that JBL used to play poker even during his wrestling days in the backrooms of arenas, together with Farooq back in the day. Maybe it wasn’t all an act after all!
Mike Foley
CREDIT IMAGE SOURCE: Independent.co.uk
Foley, most famous for his ring names of Cactus Jack and Mankind gained success and controversy in equal measure in the ring. The Hall of Famer featured in some of the most enthralling – and bloodiest – bouts of all time, and will always be remembered for losing his ear in a match in Munich in 1994. Attempting a hangman move, he became caught; quickly realizing he was losing blood to his brain that would inevitably lead to brain damage and possible death. Aided by the ref and his opponent – Big Van Vader – he managed to free himself but tore off his ear in the process.
Foley made several returns to the ring after announcing he was done, and still fights in the independent circuit. Post (partial) retirement he has made a successful name for himself in several different and surprising fields. As well as a color commentator, he is a successful comedian, actor and writer. In addition to a comic series and several children’s books, Foley has been featured on the New York Times best-selling author list multiple times.
Hulk Hogan
CREDIT IMAGE SOURCE: Independent.co.uk
One of the biggest stars of wrestling throughout the ‘80s and ‘90s, Hulk Hogan – or Terry Gene Bollea – to his mom was one of the first to cross over into the wider public’s attention. After his multiple pay-per-view appearances and his role in Rocky III, “Hulkamania” gripped the nation and world, living by his “three demandments.” This was the time when wrestling became the force it is today, with soaring interest, ratings and acceptance in the mainstream media and Hogan being both the beneficiary and driving force behind this. After finally retiring in 2005, Hogan has funded his admittedly lavish lifestyle and costly divorce courtesy of several TV, film and radio appearances as well as by venturing into the restaurant business. Hogan shitted on all this when the world found out how much of a racist cunt he was.
Shawn Michaels
CREDIT IMAGE SOURCE: www.sportskeeda.com
Hall of famer and winner of the Pro Wrestling Illustrated “Match of the Year” reader vote a record-setting eleven times, Michaels is undoubtedly one the most successful and talented wrestlers ever to climb into the ring. Michaels made a name for himself as part of The Rockers, but it wasn’t until a decade later, in the mid ‘90s, under the moniker The Heartbreak Kid that he gained worldwide fame and adulation. At WrestleMania XII in 1996 he won the first of his three WWF championships, also winning the Royal Rumble the same year.
As with all wrestlers, the pounding his body was taking in and out of the ring was to take its toll, and chronic back problems forced a premature retirement. Unlike other wrestlers who have got to this point in their lives and continued in a downward spiral, Michaels took control of his life, getting his life health and fitness back on track. After a successful return to the ring, he retired for good in 2010. Still, he now works as an ambassador for the WWE and should be held up as an example to all.
In reality…Michael Hinkenbottom is a despicable human being who now hides behind religion to carry on being a cunt by preaching his born again faggot nonsense and shooting baby animals for the ‘Fo fucking Shizzle’. What a fucking cunt…SMH.
Rick Steiner
CREDIT IMAGE SOURCE: www.thesportster.com
Mainly remembered as a tag team specialist, along with his brother Scott who he won the World Tag Team Championship with 7 times (and once with Kenny Kaos). Steiner also went on to enjoy a successful solo career. He won the WWE United States Heavyweight Championship in Feb 2001 and was a three time World Television Champion. Despite his antics in the ring, since his full-time retirement (Rick still wrestles occasionally on the independent circuit), Steiner has become a pillar of virtue. He started his own real estate business and is even a school board member of the Cherokee County School District.
The list of wrestlers who haven’t successfully coped with life outside the ring is as long as your arm, so it is refreshing and uplifting to hear the stories of those who have made a success of it – no matter how surprising their career choices. Hopefully, the example these masters of the ring have set will path the way for current and future wrestling star.